‘Losing sleep at night contributes to getting angrier’

KARACHI- According to a research conducted at the Iowa State University, United States of America, losing just a couple hours of sleep at night makes people angrier, particularly in frustrating situations.

Professor from Iowa State University, Zlatan Krizan, mentioned that certain studies have shown a link between sleep and anger, but question still remains as to what affects what? Does sleeplessness causes anger or anger leads to disrupted sleep cycle.

This new research provides an insight on our ability to adjust to irritating conditions when tired. Study participants were randomly split into 2 groups; one group maintained their normal sleep routine and the second restricted their sleep by 2 – 4 hours each night, for 2 nights.

First group almost maintained seven hours of sleep a night, while the restricted group got about four and a half hours each night.

To measure anger, researchers had participants come to the lab, before and after the sleep manipulation, to create uncomfortable conditions by making them listen to brown noise, similar to the sound of spraying water or a more aversive white noise, similar to a static signal.

Krizan revealed that, anger was notably higher in those who were sleep restricted regardless of the noise they heard.

So, it was well established that loss of sleep increases negative emotions, such as anxiety and sadness, and decreases positive emotions.

Researchers measured these effects to generally understand the relationship between sleep, anger and emotions. Sleepiness accounted for 50 per cent of the experimental effect of sleep restriction on anger, suggesting individuals’ sense of sleepiness may point to whether they are likely to become angry or not.